Baked Vanilla Cake Donuts

five baked vanilla donuts with vanilla glaze and multicolored sprinkles

Learn how to make the best vanilla cake donuts with this simple and easy recipe! Donuts can be delicious without frying; they can be baked in the oven for a healthier dessert. This is the best baked donut recipe and takes less than an hour to prepare in a special donut baking pan.

4.85 from 33 votes

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 10

Cooling & Glazing 30

Total Time 55

Course Dessert

Servings donuts

Calories 245 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

For the donuts

2 cups all-purpose flour sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cups buttermilk see notes below
¾ cups sugar
2 large eggs lightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter melted
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

For the icing

2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 tablespoons milk
gel food color

For decorating (optional - not in my photos)

edible glitter
Pastel sprinkles
white chocolate or chips

Instructions

For the donuts

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Prepare the pans by spraying each well individually with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until well blended.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine buttermilk, sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, ⅓ at a time. Beat until just combined. Do not over beat the batter or your donuts will be dry and tough.
Fill a piping bag with batter (see note below for a tip). Fill each donut cavity about ⅔ full so they don't overflow in the oven.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the top of the donuts bounces back when you touch it and a cake tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Let the cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out on a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

For the icing

Combine the powdered sugar and vanilla with a whisk in a medium bowl. Add food coloring (if using) and then add the milk a few drops at a time. The icing should be thick enough that it doesn't drip off the donuts but not as thick as paste. It should be a thick liquid almost like a runny pudding.
Fill a piping bag with icing (see note below for a tip), and cut off the end of the bag. Pipe the icing onto the cooled donuts as shown in the photos above and immediately add the sprinkles of your choice before the icing sets. Once the icing sets, nothing else will stick, so it is necessary to frost and sprinkle just 2 or 3 at a time before moving on to the next batch.

For decorating (optional - not in my photos)

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl in 20 second bursts in the microwave. Once melted, add a few drops of gel food color and mix well.
Once the icing has set on the cooled donuts, place them on parchment paper and drizzle melted chocolate over them in the pattern of your choice. I like to go back and forth over the top of the donuts to make fine straight lines.
While the chocolate is still tacky, add sprinkles and/or edible glitter to your drizzled chocolate.

Notes

Buttermilk

You can buy buttermilk in the dairy aisle of the grocery store, but you don't have to because it is easy to make at home. All you have to do is mix 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar per cup of plain 2% or whole milk. This recipe requires ¾ cup of buttermilk, so put ¾ tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into a measuring cup and fill the rest of the way up to ¾ cup with milk. Allow to thicken for 10 minutes and then it's good to use in the recipe.

Piping bags

To fill a piping bag, roll and gather the top part, turning it partly inside out as you go, as if you were putting on pantyhose. Place the tip of the bag down inside a tall glass and roll the inside out part down over the outside of the glass. The piping bag should have a nice, wide opening now with the point down inside the glass. You can spoon, pour, or scoop the batter and icing down inside the piping bag, and it won't make a giant mess.

Once you have the piping bag filled, put a mini Twixit clip over the top to prevent the batter/icing from leaking out the opening. Then, if you have to store the contents of the piping bag (for instance, if you got interrupted while icing the donuts and had to stop and come back later), simply put a second mini Twixit clip over the opening at the tip of the bag. The icing inside will stay nice and moist, because the Twixit clips will keep the whole thing airtight. I buy Twixit clips in bulk and don't know how anyone can cook without them.

I use a disposable piping bag because when I am done, I can throw the whole thing in the trash and not have to try to clean the bag.

Nutrition

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